Components for vehicle lamps can include a wide variety of designs. For example, numerous designs are possible for a lens, bezel, reflector, housing, and/or light source. However, certain methods for manufacturing vehicle lamps can preclude the possibility of using certain combinations of components. For example, a component that may be suitable for coupling with an adhesive may not be suitable for laser welding.
Vehicle lamp components can vary between different makes and models of vehicles and can also vary between different models of the same vehicle. For example, a component for use in a first vehicle model may not be compatible for use in a different vehicle model. In addition, a component for a model year of a certain vehicle may not be compatible for use in a different model year of the same vehicle. Thus, each model and/or model year can require a specific individual design of reflector, housing, bezel, and/or lens, which can increase both manufacturing costs and efficiency.
In addition, different functions, such as day time running lights, fog lights, auxiliary lights, and cornering lights can require individual lamp design for each platform or function. As such, a component, such as a reflector used for a function such as a fog light, may not be used for another function, such as a day time running light. Thus, each function requires specialized components, which can add expense and time to the manufacturing process.
Accordingly, manufacturing and development of individual components for each vehicle model, function, and model year is inefficient and costly. Thus, a need exists for the development and manufacture of components that are interchangeable, e.g., can be used for more than one function, model, year, etc.